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151 changes: 151 additions & 0 deletions docs/rfds/auth.mdx
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---
title: "AUTHENTICATION"
---

Author(s): [anna239](https://github.com/anna239)

## Elevator pitch

> What are you proposing to change?

I suggest adding more information about auth methods that agent supports, which will allow clients to draw more appropriate UI.

## Status quo

> How do things work today and what problems does this cause? Why would we change things?

Agents have different ways of authenticating users: env vars with api keys, running a command like `<agent_name> login`, some just open a browser and use oauth.
[AuthMethod](https://agentclientprotocol.com/protocol/schema#authmethod) does not really tell the client what should be done to authenticate. This means we can't show the user a control for entering key if an aggent support auth through env var.

## What we propose to do about it

> What are you proposing to improve the situation?

We can add different types of AuthMethods, so that clients can show some UI for them. For example, this auth method

```json
{
"id": "123",
"name": "OpenAI api key",
"description": "Provide your key",
"type": "envVar",
"varName": "OPEN_AI_KEY"
}
```

would allow client to prompt user to enter a key, then client can provide this key to an agent via `OPEN_AI_KEY` env variable.

## Shiny future

> How will things will play out once this feature exists?

It will be easier for end-users to start using an agent from inside the IDE as auth process will be more straightforward

## Implementation details and plan

> Tell me more about your implementation. What is your detailed implementation plan?

I suggest adding following auth types:

1. Env variable

A user can enter a key and a client will pass it to the agent as an env variable

```json
{
"id": "123",
"name": "OpenAI api key",
"description": "Provide your key",
"type": "envVar",
"varName": "OPEN_AI_KEY",
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Question: is it too late to add the env var since the process has already started?
Could we maybe just model this as a request for a text field that the user pastes the token into? and then the agent would store it somewhere like it usually does?

Or maybe you had an idea here that I am missing?

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In this case we'll have to restart the process indeed. If the agent is ok with just accepting a key in JsonRpc call, then it should declare 3. option — Provided key

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Do you think this method should rather be included in #289 ? i.e. static information known before startup?

But I guess we want to allow the user to choose? So by choosing this we'd restart the agent for them but at least they could choose if that is what they want from the options?

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But I guess we want to allow the user to choose? So by choosing this we'd restart the agent for them but at least they could choose if that is what they want from the options?

yes, that was my idea

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Below may be too nuanced for the example, which could be best discussed as "ENV Only" "Env Supported" which happens.. Wherever there is support for a "restart only" config (args, env, files) it ideally is representable in the discovery/registry format in a primitive. In worst case we can just punt the credential scope as "restart" because people can always read the docs to figure out what that means.

I think this discussion ties into the #289 (registry) issue.. we need out-of-band info about auth when it implies a process restart. Also, in some cases there is a tiering. many agents have a env fallback to a file or some other process. Not to complicate this, but if something is strictly ENV only then it should be definable pre-start (registry) and if not, we shouldn't mistake the option for an ENV for only supporting ENV

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If I got your idea right, you suggest putting some auth options (env vars) to the registry, and some (oauth) would strill be returned by the agent during its work. I thought about it but decided against for the follwing reasons:

  1. it's better to have same concepts in one place
  2. user can decide on auth mechanism, when they see all the options
  3. if we want to return available options in AuthRequired Error, we'll need Env options there anyway

"link": "OPTIONAL link to a page where user can get their key",
"requiresRestart": true // default
}
```

2. Start argument

A user can enter a key, and a client will pass it to the agent as a start parameter

```json
{
"id": "123",
"name": "OpenAI api key",
"description": "Provide your key",
"type": "startParam",
"paramName": "OPEN_AI_KEY",
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Could this also be handled if we supported the full elicitation options?

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I think it's more like env var, so this one also requires restart

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if we add requiresRestart would also be here

"link": "OPTIONAL link to a page where user can get their key",
"requiresRestart": true // default
}
```

3. Agent auth

Same as what there is now – agent handles the auth itself, this should be a default type if no type is provided for backward compatibility
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maybe we should be explicit that Agent auth MUST not require a restart unless explicitly marked otherwise (due to some facet not covered by ENV like static file cold reload)


```json
{
"id": "123",
"name": "Agent",
"description": "Authenticate through agent",
"type": "agent",
"requiresRestart": false // default, can be changed
}
```

4. Terminal auth

What's now done with `terminal-auth` capability and \_meta field, for backward compatibility clients might want to read properties from both \_meta and the object itself.
This means that the client should run the provided command themselves in the terminal and let user interact with that terminal

```json
{
"id": "123",
"name": "Run in terminal",
"type": "terminal",
"command": "/path/to/command",
"args": ["--setup"],
"env": { "VAR1": "value1", "VAR2": "value2" },
"label": "Setup Label",
"requiresRestart": true // default, can be changed
}
```

### AuthErrors

It might be useful to include a list of AuthMethod ids to the AUTH_REQUIRED JsonRpc error. Why do we need this if they're already shared during `initialize`:
All supported auth methods are shared during `initialize`. When user starts a session, they've already selected a model, which can narrow down a list of options.

```json
{
"jsonrpc": "2.0",
"id": 2,
"error": {
"code": -32000,
"message": "Authentication required",
"authMethods": [
{
"id": "chatgpt",
"name": "Login with ChatGPT",
"description": "Use your ChatGPT login with Codex CLI (requires a paid ChatGPT subscription)"
}
]
}
}
```

## Frequently asked questions

> What questions have arisen over the course of authoring this document or during subsequent discussions?

### What alternative approaches did you consider, and why did you settle on this one?

An alternative approach would be to include this information to an agent's declaration making it more static, see [Registry RFD](https://github.com/agentclientprotocol/agent-client-protocol/pull/289)

There is also an alternative to adding a separate `elicitation` capability, which is to create a separate auth type for this. Then the client can decide themselves if they support it or not.

## Revision history

<!-- If there have been major updates to this RFD, you can include the git revisions and a summary of the changes. -->

There was a part about elicitations https://github.com/agentclientprotocol/agent-client-protocol/blob/939ef116a1b14016e4e3808b8764237250afa253/docs/rfds/auth.mdx removed it for now, will move to a separate rfd